Safety Tips in Dubrovnik

To be honest, it is difficult for me to give any warnings or dangers tip for this place. After all it is a very crowded tourist destination so all the common warning should apply here as well. Other warnings are the high walls and no fence so you should be aware of that, there are cases where tourists have been falling down from those walls and not survive the impact. So in short, it is all about everything and nothing, just be careful as anywhere else in the world.

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There are hordes of pigeons that congregate, if anybody feeds the first one. They hang out in the square, and I suspect the local retail shops do not like it. I saw pigeons try to enter the shops. What bold audacity.

There are basically few, and maybe only one grocery market store in the proximity to the old town that we saw, and that was small. So advise is to get what you need outside in the suburbs, even though stores also may be hard to find.

Park benches come at a premium because the locals, not really looking like vagrants, take the spot to lie down and sleep in the only park close to the Pile Gate and bridge-a small park and not too well maintained

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This sounds like a joke, but we found out that even though you can see it, you cannot easily find the path/street to get to it. After going out Pile Gate, follow the the street past the little square, and at the end of that turn left toward an alley (it is hard to see from street). From one sign, you then follow the street to the bottom of a harbor, and then can see how to get up to the fort.

There is only one public toilet in the whole town, and that is out the Pile gate entrance and head toward Minceta tower, and up the street about 150 feet. There is s small sign that shows where it is, but you need to look for it real hard. When asking the locals where a toilette/nuznik/zahodie was, they were unsure, and the information tourism facility was little help and little caring.
The alternative is to find and cafe bar and pay $10 for beer and coffee to the convenience of the toilet use there.

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There are a fair amount of steps to reach the old town main area; like 100 to the square form the gates. We rented an apartment in the eastern hillside and had many more to take on. There were 56 steps to the apartment from the street, another 200 steps down to the gate, and then those other 100 steps. What goes down must come up. After about 5-6 treks by us over 3days, it does get fatiguing, and hard on my knee replacement-as in not real knee. I bought a knee wrap to help in the agony some.
Since there is little to no parking in the hillside homes, many/most people come and go using the steps and need to carry everything on their shoulders or lug with the arms.

Dubrovnik is lacking in official budget options and hostels, although you will no doubt be approached at the bus station by people offering €10 Old Town rooms...some genuinely good accommodation options, others scams involving extra charges galore and long walks or bus rides to and from the Old Town. Some of these people can be quite pushy and insistent so you will have to be very firm with them if you are not interested in their accommodation...if you show interest they may be hard to shake off!